mike-krahulik posts

In what might prove to be the most meta post ever, I'm going to talk about gaming journalism and how it's changed in recent years. Now, the mainstream media -- by which I refer to traditional magazines like Time and Life, and news outlets like the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times -- have always worked diligently to maintain a high-quality standard for themselves. As a collective, they follow the rules set down in regulatory tomes such as the Chicago Manual of Style and the AP Stylebook. Of course, every publication has its own house style to which its writers must adhere, but by and large there are many generally accepted guidelines concerning tone, editorial slant, and the like.

As video games grew as a phenomenon, it quickly became evident that the mainstream press wasn't going to give it the coverage its enthusiast audience demanded. Typically adopting an outsider's approach, traditional news outlets left their coverage at "Here's a new trend. It's kind of strange and we don't understand it, but the kids seem to like it." This journalistic void left the field wide open for a new generational voice to inhabit.

Longtime fans of the Penny Arcade webcomic most likely already know what I'm about to say here. You probably know that On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode One is an adventure-RPG set in the steampunk/gothic horror world of New Arcadia where similar-yet-different versions of Gabe and Tycho run their own paranormal investigation firm -- of sorts. But did you know that in this game you'll get to battle robotic juicing machines that copulate with fruits, men, women and sometimes small animals? Oh, you did. Well fine, but don't say we didn't warn you when their little metal protrusions puncture your tibia.

For those of you who don't know every little detail about the game, let us make you au courant on the subject of OTRSPoD:EO. Yes, we just went acronymical on your ass.